


action and reaction (life as we know it)

by cettevieestbien



Series: drabbles. [16]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Braedon gets nervous, Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, Cancer, Cute Kids, Gen, Hero Worship, How Do I Tag, POV Outsider, Prosthetic legs, SCIENCE!, Single Parents, T:TDW stuff, Trans Character, all the OC's are children under 13, and Ellie has a head on her shoulders, and also protective, not really - Freeform, they're know it alls and mean
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-10
Updated: 2015-01-11
Packaged: 2018-03-07 01:11:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3155219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cettevieestbien/pseuds/cettevieestbien
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Superheroes and children. Nothing could go wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Captain America saves Ellie and Daniel from Brown Big Bird

**Author's Note:**

> This also kind of explores how the children of New York would react to things after the Battle of New York.

Ellie was a second grader. She was supposed to be a second grader. She got "held back," and had to redo first grade again. She liked to tell all of the kids in her class - Mrs. Newton's First Grade Class - that she was older than them and smarterer. They were fast to argue with her, which was just tiring, for everyone.

On that particular day, they're just coloring some things that will go up in the class for the party they're going to have. Her Daddy wouldn't be able to make it, and she didn't know where Mommy was. So, she started to color her pumpkin green, just because she was upset and the other kids wouldn't like it. Then, they'd argue with her.

Just as she was about to color the stem purple, and then the curly thing and the leaf that hang off the pumpkin either bright red or pink, the ground beneath her feet shook, hard. She remembers in the summer of 2012, when she was still in preschool, the same thing happening.

Ellie and her Daddy lived in New York. Earthquakes didn't happen. In 2012, it had been an alien invasion. She really hoped it wasn't this time.

Her teacher had them get under the tables, and so Ellie crouched down next to Daniel and across from Justin and Donna. Donna was scared, she could tell. Justin was trying to seem like he wasn't, but when the lights went out out of nowhere, he jumped. Daniel had been in New York the day the bad guy aliens showed up, too, so he had seemed okay. She breathed through her nose and held the part of her dress covering her knees tightly, remembering Daddy tell her to do that when she was scared.

The ground shook again, and then sirens from outside started to go off. Ellie started to shake.

A loud BOOM came from outside, and the ground shook so hard, she heard stuff fall out of the cubbies, the crayons and glue sticks on the table rattle, a scream from the other side of the room, and frantic shushing.

Ellie was scared, like she had never been before. She curled tighter into herself, and noticed Donna and Justin, neither having been in New York that day, and not having any idea of what to do, do the same.

Things got badder and badder, the shaking getting bigger and the booms getting louder and louder. Ellie breathed through her nose and clutched her dress, wondering distantly what her Daddy was doing.

The wall from the next door class that connects to Mrs. Newton's shook extra hard, more than once. Then, it broke, and two figures came tumbling into her class.

Ellie lived in New York. Of course she knew who Captain America was. Seeing him in person was... crazy, she thought.

He was big, and the thing with him was bigger, but only Captain America seemed to know that they were in a classroom full of little kids. Ellie was a big kid, though.

"Run!" He shouted, while keeping the thing with him from hurting any of the kids. Mrs. Newton took the kids, happy to get out from under the tables, to the hallway, and ran out of Ellie's sight.

Ellie was going to follow - she was! - but then, another shake came, and she slipped on her way to the door, Daniel's hand in hers. He dragged her under a table, and she was about to tell him he was an idiot, when she saw the door was blocked.

Instead, she looked at him, said "thanks" and gestured for him to make himself small. It was just them in the class with Captain America and what looked kind of like Big Bird, but more brown than yellow, and more reddish brown than just brown.

Ellie wondered if she'd live through this, and then thought, Of course I will. Captain America will keep me and Daniel safe.

Captain America and the thing he was fighting don't fight for too long. She saw Captain America throw a good placed punch - her Daddy had taught her some things, things that he said would be helpful for living in New York when she grew up, and punching was one of them - and then the thing starts to move weirdly.

From where she was sitting, she couldn't see what Captain America does after the thing started to move weirdly, but the thing went down, and Ellie barely stoped a cheer from leaving her mouth. She knew better than to interrupt. Captain America stood there for a moment, catching his breath, before turning to them. Daniel stuck his head out from under the table, shuddering when another shake rattles the shelter they were hiding under, and then asked, "are we safe?"

Daniel had always been the bravest first grader she knew. The rest were chickens, and she'd be sure to tell them that she got to meet Captain America - an Avenger! - because she wasn't a chicken.

Captain America nodded, and the two first graders slowly came out from under the table. He stood taller than them both by a lot, so he crouched down so he was only a little taller, and stuck out a hand. "I'm Steve," he said, and the warning her Daddy gave her said she shouldn't talk to him. But he was a hero! Should she...?

Daniel next to her stuck his hand in Captain America's and got out, "I'm Daniel."

Captain America looked at her, then, and she squeaked. "I'm Ellie," she blushed.

He nodded, and told them, "we need to get outta here. Do you know where you're supposed to go?"

Ellie and Daniel shared a look. Neither had gotten the hang of knowing where they were going yet. So they shrugged.

Captain America turned his head sharply, a hand going up to his ear. He listened for a second, then turned back to them. "That's okay. Iron Man says that the fight's mostly away from the school now. Let's go find your teacher, huh?" Then he stood, and gave both of them a hand, his shield on his back.

Ellie was taller than Daniel, but she still nearly had to reach up to get her hand in his. Daniel looked awestruck, and she was feeling it too.

Deciding she wasn't in any stranger danger with Captain America, she told him all about the party, and how her Daddy couldn't come. Daniel added in his own story at the end of hers.

He was smiling at them the whole trip to the classes for the fourth graders, a hall away, where there was less of a mess.

Ellie was smiling, too.


	2. Tony Stark offers Braedon a job

Braedon was a genius. That's what Mama had always said.

He was happy to go by the title - it made him feel special. It made Mama happy, too, and he would do anything for Mama.

When he went to the Science Fair for the high schoolers (he was the only 12 year old, and it was awesome), he came face to back with Tony Stark.

Tony Stark, like the Iron Man, like his tech hero forever and ever. Braedon couldn't move for a second, he was so shocked. And terrified, can't forget terrified. His hero at the same Science Fair he was presenting his studies in? Color him body-shockingly nervous, and you'd get a perfect picture.

Tony Stark walked around the high schoolers projects, not noticing Braedon.

Braedon got to work on putting up his own project while Tony Stark was commenting on all of the others. Braedon thought he might puke. A judge came up to his station and he started to describe his thesis and then the experiments he did to prove it.

He was just getting around to telling the judge about how he had to change his thesis when experiments proved the first one wrong when Tony Stark came up. Braedon swallowed, wiped his hands on his shirt, and kept going on to the judge.

She smiled at him when he told her that the second thesis had turned out to be correct, and asked him some questions she said she'd ask any of the high schoolers. He had to think for a moment, but his answer widened both the judge and Tony Stark's eyes.

The judge nodded and moved on, writing something on her clipboard. Tony Stark stayed, and Braedon barely stayed still as his hero looked his poster and model over.

He was sure he was going to puke.

Finally, Tony Stark spoke. "Good job, kid. Maybe you can come work for Stark Industries, when you grow up."

Braedon grinned, nodded, and then watched as Tony Stark moved on to the next presentation.

He barely managed to keep his excitement in until the fair was over and he got home.

He definitely puked.


	3. The Winter Soldier fulfills Asher's wish

Will and Asher shared a hospital room. Asher's real name was Ashley, but he preferred Asher, and who was Will to call Asher something he didn't want to be called?

Asher had cancer; Will had been born without legs.

They both had wishes from the Make-A-Wish foundation thing. Will didn't know what Asher's was, but his own was that Asher gets his wish ASAP.

Later, Asher told him that his wish was to meet James Barnes, the Winter Soldier and the newest Avenger after Falcon and War Machine.

On the day that Will was getting fitted for prosthetic legs, Asher's doctor stuck his head in the door and said, "guess what guys? You have a visitor."

And in stepped the Winter Soldier. The Soldier's eyes went to Will first, who was gaping as he stood on the new legs, a nurse helping keep him steady, then Asher, who was younger than Will by a lot, and who was sitting in his bed, a Percy Jackson book in his lap.

Asher's doctor looked to Asher, "is it okay if he comes in and I leave? I have to go help some other kids right now, but he wanted to see you."

Asher nodded and giggled.

Will gaped.

Winter Soldier stepped closer to Asher, and the nurse helping Will seemed just as awestruck as Will himself.

Asher gestured Winter Soldier closer, so the man sat in the chair Asher's mom usually sat in, right next to the bed. "Hi! I'm Asher!"

Winter Soldier smiled, and told Asher, "I'm James. It's nice to meet you, Asher."

Asher beamed.

Will had become extremely protective of Asher in the months they had been sleeping in the same room as each other, and watched James and

Asher interact instead of listening to the nurse tell him about his new legs.

James noticed, and told him, "you should listen, kid. Prosthetic limbs are tricky," and then turned back to Asher, who watched the interaction with great interest.

So, Will payed more attention, and got to walk around the room on the legs, even though they wouldn't be the ones he got to keep.

Asher wanted to join him, but was too sick. So, Asher volunteered James to walk with him and the nurse. James didn't seem to mind, even though both the nurse and Will himself chastised Asher.

James told both of them about his arm, and showed the metal appendage when Will had paced the room and had to sit down to catch his breath.

He was pulled away from them when his phone started to beep angrily, but he said that he had fun and wouldn't be opposed to coming back. He slipped Will a paper with a phone number on it, and then left.

The next time Will would see James was at Asher's remission party, when he himself could actually walk.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tbh I almost killed off Asher :(


	4. Thor went to London, but Molly liked Jane Foster more

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Molly is British, but I am not and have no experience with British people or the way they speak. Sorry for any inconsistencies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> takes place in T:TDW, but no spoilers, really

Molly was a stickler for heroes. She had fallen in love with the Fantastic Four, she had raved about Spider-Man for weeks, she had thought Iron Man was awesome from day one.

When the Avengers went public, Molly nearly had a heart attack.

She went and reread everything she could about Thor, Captain America, Iron Man and the Hulk. There wasn't much about the Hulk, but the others had information in spades.

She watched the alien invasion clips everyday. She had no idea that she'd meet one of them.

See, Molly lived in London. Not New York, not even North America. There weren't any heroes living in London.

She was in town when the sky suddenly got even more grey than usual. Like, the weather was always rainy but on that day, it was downright ridiculous how grey and sickly it was.

When a portal in the sky opened, Molly was struck by sudden gratefulness that the alien invasion of 2012 hadn't happened in London. Seeing the portal in the sky scared Molly to her bones. Seeing Thor getting flung out of it every once in a while... that was both reassuring and just as scary.

Her parents had ushered her into the nearest building, but they'd somehow gotten separated from her in the chaos. A mass of bodies and the cold chrome of the building stole the breath from her lungs, and so she staggered out of the mess.

Once she was outside, she could breathe, which was amazing. She walked around a little, trying to calm down as much as possible, only for a car to fall on her leg. Typical.

Molly was stuck there for hours. She didn't know where her parents were - and really, why did she leave them in the first place? - and she knew that other people needed ambulances more than her. She couldn't feel her legs, but then, there had to be people who had _lost_ theirs, so it was fine.

When she was found, it wasn't by any ambulance. No, Thor himself found her. He had a lady with him, and she seemed worried.

"Thor - lift up the car, now!" The lady told him, and he did so, the car lifting up off of her. The lady bent down so that she was kneeling by Molly. "Hi, I'm Jane. This is Thor. We're going to get you help, alright?"

Molly nodded. "I'm Molly," she told Jane, feeling like she needed to. Jane smiled at her.

Eventually - Molly isn't quite sure how long it is that she lays there with Jane telling her stories while Thor looks for someone who can help her - her parents find her. Jane and them talk for a while, and then Thor and a harried looking college student with a first aid kit rush over.

Molly's legs will be mostly fine - one is fractured, the other is broken and she still can't feel them, but the student, Charlie, tells her they're just numb and she should be fine - and and her mum cries with relief. Apparently they could have been so bad off she was paralyzed or they needed to be amputated.

Thor helped her stand, and seemed pretty worried about how she was faring, but Jane and Charlie assured him she was fine for the moment.

When she had to go back home with her parents (who told her that if she hadn't gotten hurt, she would have been in big trouble), she got to hug Thor and Jane goodbye and shook Charlie's hand like a grown up. When she got, however, she went online and searched Jane Foster.

Guess who had a new hero?


End file.
